Going out on the bike is always a good "alternative"...but I'd much rather be out there running.
Still, 90 minutes a day hauling my sorry arse and my cast-iron bicycle around the wee hilly roads is at least keeping me active and, the old rib, appears to be getting a bit better.
However, cycling isn't 100% pain free... as I discovered yesterday when I was out of the saddle "honking" up a hill just outside Oldhamstocks. So today's ascent of the same hill was taken in a much lower gear...in the saddle!!
We were out last night at a gig. Fred Hersch, solo, at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh.
To be honest it wasn't a gig that I had planned on going to - till I found out late on Wednesday that I'd won two tickets in an email competition from the Queen's Hall web site!
Set one was a strangely "classical" affair that was, to me, reminiscent of one of Ketil Bjornstad's solo offerings. Fantastic music, wonderfully executed....but is it "jazz"?
I don't know, but no matter, it was excellent.
The one which did stand out, for me, and the one that definitely was jazz was the tune "Dream Of Monk". An obvious homage to one of his hero's.
Set two was much more my cup of java (and I suspect most of the audience's) with a real mixed bag of standard's and styles.
At one point the folk song "Black Is The Colour (Of My True Loves Hair)" segued into the "Love Theme From Spartacus" (bit of a favourite of mine) and sounded very Bill Evans-ish.
Quite a lively rendition of Benny Golson's classic "Whisper Not" was added into the mix.
Very good acoustics in the Queen's Hall and absolutely no amplification was used. Just a stage with a piano on it.
Every note was crystal clear - and I got to go home without the dreaded tinnitus kicking in.
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